The Galaxy Note 3 features USB 3.0 along with some added benefits

Samsung doesn't usually like spending too much time on specs because they feel their software features sell the phone. However, some specs can actually be a feature. The Galaxy Note 3 sports USB 3.0, which a lot of people are going to find pretty useful.

By far the biggest benefit has to be faster charging when connected to your laptop or desktop computer. With older phones, you have probably noticed that when you connect it to your computer, it charges really slow. That is because USB 2.0 can only charge up to 500 milliamps, but USB 3.0 can charge up to 900 milliamps. That is a lot closer to what you get when plugged into a wall charger. Wall chargers can vary, but you can usually expect around 1,000 milliamps.

The next benefit is that USB 3.0 gives you faster data transfers for transferring music, pictures, and video to and from your phone. We don't know how much faster since it relies on the quality of storage that Samsung has implemented in the guts of the Note 3.

Now all of this is contingent on your desktop or laptop having a USB 3.0 port. If you bought your computer in the last couple of years, there is a good chance that one of your ports is indeed 3.0.

The last thing you need to know is the connector on a USB 3.0 cable is different than your typical micro USB connector as you can see in the image above. The good news is that if you lose it, you can still insert any of your older microUSB cables, but you won't get the improved data transfer speeds or faster charging. In fact, it might not even charge at all. Samsung has been known to make their charging ports only compatible with their branded cables. I guess we will have to wait until I get my review unit to find out for sure.

source: SamMobile